Ok, since nobody expects Economist writes anything good about Russia let's not overreact on the article. One more useless peace of the 2nd class author. I mean you blame Russia for striving to keep its own culture? Right, Russia is not Sodom and Gomorrah, it's a conservative country, and Western minorities might not like it. Yes, Russia doesn't listen to US or UK? That's obviously an evil state then? "Cynicism is surely in play". Meanwhile Western politicians are not cynic at all. Such angels in white clothes. Orphans adoption? Would you also mention that an adoption of a single Russian child costs around 50 K for an American, while it's just 5 K to adopt, say, a child from Missouri. So why Russian children, why would you pay 10 times more? Because there is no responsibility for the child's life, ant that is what Russian authorities asked for years: just give us the right to defend the children.

assault, threat, rhetoric, hostile, egregious, disparate, nascent, retaliatory measures, cynicism, ....(to be infinitely continued) - propaganda style is in play, how one using that many negative or sarcastic words in each sentence could write an objective article?

To claim that "nobody expects the Economist to write anything good about Russia" is to avoid answering the questions and the criticism that the article expresses -- a stupid move.

Russia isn't keeping its own culture. It never has: it has always reacted and adopted foreign cultures. And that is as it should be: every country whose culture was worth its salt was influenced by all kinds of foreign factors. Name me one country whose language doesn't have hundreds, thousands of borrowings from other languages, and I'll show you a culturally minor and unimportant country. (Example: Iceland.)

Russia doesn't listen to US and UK? But it does -- all the time! Russia listens so much, it cannot let anything slip by. It's as if Russia had nothing better to do than to listen to the US and the UK and then say the opposite. To me, this kind of hate bespeaks of love. You know that hate is never too far away from love (or from feelings of envy), don't you?

Russian children adopted by Americans live in average much better than Russian children adopted by childrens --check the statistics, even the statistics of the Russian government. Why they want to pay 10 times more to adopt Russian children? That's up to them, right? Why do YOU think this is so?... Let's hear your opinion... (I'll get the popcorn.)

If you wanted to protect the children's life, you would make sure they (especially the handicapped ones) went where their chances of being happy are higher. But you don't. Because you are really not at all interested in protecting the children: you just want to do something Anti-American. The children are not important to you. The Americans who wanted to adopt them -- they are important to you.

And curiously, you only hurt a few Americans doing that. Do you think that anything at all will change in American policy or in the pursuit of American interests in the world -- just because a few couples were denied the chance to bring happiness to handicapped children? No -- this will be much more important as negative, anti-Russian propaganda. It's as if Putin wanted the rest of the world to think badly about Russia. Because that is going to be the biggest consequence: no problem at all for America, bad propaganda for Russia. I hope that satisfies you.

And curiously, you only hurt a few Americans doing that. Do you think that anything at all will change in American policy or in the pursuit of American interests in the world -- just because a few couples were denied the chance to bring happiness to handicapped children? No -- this will be much more important as negative, anti-Russian propaganda. It's as if Putin wanted the rest of the world to think badly about Russia. Because that is going to be the biggest consequence: no problem at all for America, bad propaganda for Russia. I hope that satisfies you.
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No. Since the rest of the world do not give a damn for all this history, the biggest consequence is, there will be more children to adopt for other families (e.g., europeans), with lesser risk for them (Magnitsky was one, children died were 19...a little disproportion, ain't it?)...

If you wanted to protect the children's life, you would make sure they (especially the handicapped ones) went where their chances of being happy are higher
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Why this place has to be America? European nations adopt very more russian children than US (in 2011, exactly twice more children), with very more guarantees (no gimmicks between local -state- and national -federal- authorities about who signed the agreement whith russians, no liht sentences in case of "casual manslauther" -and virually no manslaughter at all-, etc.)...

Pay 10 times more is up to them?
That's a real cynicism as it is!! If you want to adapt a child why don't you adapt a kid from your homeland Alabama, say, why do you go to Russia and pay 10 times more? You just want to have a kid! why would you go that far and pay that much? Do children in US suffer less being orphans? So why don't they help them? Yes, I don't deny that most of Americans adapting children from Russia has a good purpose, but please don't deny that most of them adapting abroad because they want to avoid any legal cause against them. And that's what this all about because some Russian adoptees were killed but there was no legal framework Russian government or biological parents can have a say. Not only Russia but other countries like South Korea want to stop sending their children to US. And that is why all the organizations who receive money from those parents are criticizing Russia now because they are losing billion dollars market (count easily: to adopt 1000 foreign children adopters spend 50 M USD). That s a huge business!

The claim is not to avoid the criticism, but to mention once again all the negative articles written by the Economist authors so far. You may check them all out and you will see that there is nothing more than blind criticism. There is no even a single positive article about Russia like nothing good happens in there. Cold war propaganda style! Pure dichotomy: good guys vs bad guys. Perhaps it's because of personal love the owners of the cheap newspaper(if you know them)

P.s. so what s your opinion on the children adoption again? I commented below and looking forward to hear your response. Hope you didn't choke with your popcorn.

p.s.s. And I don't represent Russian government, I just express my personal opinion. I have a lot of American friends, real friends and no negative attitude towards US. Can it be enough to have an objective opinion?

The day the devil showed up in Heaven at the pearly gates, St Peter looked at him in astonishment and said " What the Hell are you doing here?" The﻿ Devil looked up with a smile and said " Stalin died, went to hell and told me to get out of his chair!!"

The day the devil showed up in Heaven at the pearly gates, St Peter looked at him in astonishment and said " What the Hell are you doing here?" The﻿ Devil looked up with a smile and said " Stalin died, went to hell and told me to get out of his chair!!"
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Nice...

Stalin kicked out western corporations, which had been robbing Russia of its gold reserves during Bolsheviks before him; united Russia as one country; industrialized and armed Russia despite the US refusing to sell its metal for gold and demanding grain in order to keep Russia from arming itself, which led to Russian famines in the 30s, and despite western support for Hitler, - Stalin still managed to win the war and preserved Russia as one country. As oppose to Kerensky, Lenin and Trotsky, Stalin was never an agent of any foreign nation, such as Germany or the US, and therefore, refused to serve the west. That's exactly why he is still so hated by the west, which does not care and never talks about atrocities and genocide that Lenin and Trotsky did in Russia - removing the Russian Tsar and killing at least $35,000,000 Russian - since this was all done by the orders of the west. So yes, Stalin was not perfect but did what he had to do to save the country.

So, in your enlightened mind, Kerensky, Lenin and Trotsky were all agents of a foreign nation, "such as Germany or the US" ?
And the 1930s man-made famine, implemented and supervised by Stalin's right-hand co-conspirators Vyacheslav Molotov and Lazar Kaganovich was the result of a Wall Street conspiracy, right ? And the wholesale execution of the military leadership of the USSR in 1938, the mass destruction of Orthodox churches and execution of the bishops, clergy and religious leaders in the 1930s, the expansion of the Gulag empire under Yezhov, Yagoda, Beria and the rest of the criminal gang, - all that and much more was, according to you, Stalin's glorious deeds "to save the country". Please tell us: a) when did you graduate from the Stalinist Academy ? b) what is your present position in the KPB (Kremlin Propaganda Bureau)?

Didimyk; you are misinterpreting every post that does not praise your beggar nation Ukraine.
IrinaPrima pointed out Stalin’s positive impact on the Soviets transformation from a feudal country surviving bloody civil war and foreign legion invasion into a world power that singlehandedly defeated Hitler and sent first human into the orbit. Her point is specific to what was accomplished and you are blabbing about how.

Instead of commenting on this accomplishment you are questioning his leadership style and constantly blabbing about Ukraine famine, caused by local Ukrainian communists anyway (and the present second “famine” is caused by whom?).
Nobody disputes what you said about Stalin’s excesses, ruthless leadership style full of insensitivity and suspicion but he accomplished the difficult journey from point A to point B even though with great human sacrifice. If France can praise Europe pillaging Napoleon then...

Seven839, your proven inability to understand realities has been once again demonstrated by your propagandist comment targeting Ukraine by asking: "and the present second “famine” is caused by whom?". Fortunately, by nobody, not even by your Kremlin paymasters.
If you ever learn how to read, instead of being a poorly paid propaganda mouthpiece of your Kremlin bosses who demand a preset quota of B.S., you would find out, for example, that:

b)Egypt and Saudi Arabia are two of several leading importers of Ukrainian grain. Egypt holds a second place in terms of grain imports, buying 5.5 million tonnes of Ukrainian grain valued at $1.4 billion. Saudi Arabia is third importing 1.9 million tonnes of Ukrainian grain worth $509 million.

c)Ukraine continues to hold first place in the world in terms of sunflower oil trade. Ukraine's share of the world export market is 50%.
d)Ukraine also supplies 13% of world corn exports, ranking fourth.
e)Ukraine is also the fourth largest world exporter of barley.

These facts are just part of the reason why your Moscow bosses cannot digest their loss of control over Ukraine. Yes, indigestion is widespread among the present Kremlin elite. No wonder Russian imports of toilet paper from Finland, Sweden and other countries are growing. The cheap Russian-made variety is useless.

1. The 1930-s famine was not hand-made - it was caused by the necessity to gather enough grain to buy metal from the US, which was refusing to accept gold, a traditional method of payment at that time. The US, as well as Britain and France, did not want Russia to arm itself - they wanted Russia to lose the war to Hitler, hoping that Adolph would be their puppet afterwords - as Lenin/Trotsky (L/T) had been - and would allow the US companies to get back to robing Russia. As I pointed out in my earlier posts, metal was much needed for Russia's industrialization in preparation for its defense against Hitler, who was obviously getting ready to invade Russia. Stalin knew that the West was arming Hitler and provoking him to invade Russia. Joseph had two choices: 1) to find the needed volumes of grain at a great cost of human life and to use prisoners as cheap and disciplined labor to quickly industrialize the country; or 2) to do nothing, be a nice guy, and allow the West to enslave its country. The choice was not an easy one, but he chose correctly.
2. Why are you not bothered by the truly hand-made famines of the 20-s, organized by Lenin and Trotsky, with the single goal in mind, i.e. to destroy Russia's smartest, brightest, strongest, and the best otherwise - its gene pool? Russia had more that enough grain at that time, and L/T confiscated it from peasants and either gifted it (along with the Tsar's gold reserves) to the US, or simply burned it.
3. Stories about execution of military leadership are not completely true either. Many of them worked for the West, as recently declassified documents tell us, and therefore had to be executed for treason. Again, for the obvious reason: to safe the country from foreign occupation and en-slavery.
4. Most churches were destroyed by the orders of local Bolsheviks, and not Stalin personally. Contrary to the popular belief, majority of them were destroyed by L/T's orders in the 20-s, and their treasures were melted for gold and gifted to L/T's masters in the US and Germany, where we can find remnants of some of the preserved treasures today. The Tsar's bank account, held in one of the US banks, was "privatized" by the bank after the Tzar's slaughter, and NEVER returned to Russia. The same goes to the clergy - a great majority of them had been killed by the L/T orders way before Stalin's time.

The history you read was written (as almost always had been the case throughout times) by the "winners", i.e. in this case by international criminals, with evident agenda to present the past events the way best suited for them. Luckily, there are archives and documents, and today we can learn the real truth. That is, those of us who are seeking it.

Your arguments are so full of plain trush or deliberate BS that it would take somebody as ignorant as you are to debate it with you. Just one example will illustrate the level of your fantasies: "Stalin knew that the West was arming Hitler and provoking him to invade Russia." According to you, Stalin had taken the initiative in the mid 1930s by secretly allowing Hitler's armoured regiments to train IN RUSSIA ! Its a common knowledge that gen. Guderian, the well known German tank commander, had trained his panzer officers on Russian polygons. Moreover, after signing the Hitler-Stalin pact Hitler's metalurgical works were receiving trainloads after trainloads of Soviet manganese and ferroalloys essential in the production of armoured vehicles. And, of course, Stalin was only happy to reward Adolf, his partner in crime, with supplemental shipments of crude oil and refined products. All that and more has been well documented and is accessible to anyone capable of having an open mind. How regrettable that you have been brainwashed by some Kremlin propaganda beyond the point of 'no-return'.

And 50% of the Ukraine's profits will have to go to pay for IMF and World Bank loans, courtesy of the US "democratization" - read covert enslavery of foreign nations. If it wasn't for Putin, Russia would be engaged in the same "profit sharing" today!

The USSR started the war as a military ally of Nazi Germany. They invaded Poland together. The USSR kept the captured territories permanently. Until June 1941 USSR supplied Germany with oil, metals, grain (the German army used 500,000 horses) and critically rubber without which tanks, planes and motor cars are impossible. They were socialists together.

Stalin was an employee of BP, then the Anglo Persian oil company. So he was a British agent. After he was sacked for theft he took his revenge (a very Georgian custom) by organizing a trade union. To support himself, he ran a brothel and robbed banks.

The article should have mentioned Russia blaming America for its failed Mars Probes. Russia has a major inferiority complex and is trying to find its place in the world. If Russia aligned itself more with the West and America it would be much better off. Americans and Europeans are a very forgiving nation; look what has happened with Germany and Japan. It is the Russians that are stuck in the cold war mentality, not America. With their shrinking population and vast amounts of energy, they should be more concerned with their neighbor China and its 1.3 billion inhabitants. Complaining about the European Missile defense system makes no sense either. America and Europe have both stated its not to protect from Russia, but then Russia says it will attack it if its built? So you tell me what the West and America is to think then?

My point is that after World War 2, America helped to rebuild Germany, Japan, and Italy, and to this day they are some of America's closest allies. Obviously then one could say America has the ability to move on from a Cold War era relationship with Russia to a modern one that would benefit the both. Unfortunately Russia is the one stuck in the Cold War mentality. Go ahead at look at what happened with Iraq, Libya and Syria and continue to prove my point.

Not acceptable for Russia ? Where did you get this B.S. from? Puppets is what Putin has been looking for since he became president some 13 years ago, puppets are his "republics" of Abkhasia, South Ossetia, Transdniestria and his 'ally' Lukashenka of Belarus. Putin wants more puppets by creating and controlling his imperial dream of Eurasia, etc. etc.

America has no partners only puppets. Not an acceptable thing for Russia
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More exactly (and sadly): Amertica, at least since now, CAN ACCEPT no partners, only puppets. Since in charge in Russia were Eltsin and his boys ("Mister-yes-sir" Kozirev, etc.), everything was all right in "democratic" Russia (not withstanding the bombing of the parliament, the first chechen war, the oligarchs who MAKE the state politics -as for "corruption"- and a general situation even worse than the present one), and even then USA went a bridge (destroyed) too far (yugoslavian chrisis, y'know...). Now the music has changed (not 100% for the good, but changed), there is no "mister-yes-sir" anymore, and then "dictatorship", "threat", etc....Curious coincidence...

Puppets is what Putin has been looking for since he became president some 13 years ago, puppets are his "republics" of Abkhasia, South Ossetia, Transdniestria and his 'ally' Lukashenka of Belarus. Putin wants more puppets by creating and controlling his imperial dream of Eurasia, etc. etc.
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Putin can be a bad boy, but ain't not a fool. To create his "imperial dream of Eurasia" (not more "imperial" than EU, NAFTA, Mercosur, etc.) he does not count on "puppets" ("an obedient fool is worse than an enemy", russian proverb), but on the most durable human factor: the mutual interest...And this is why he can do (at your scorn and dismay...)...

If Russia aligned itself more with the West and America it would be much better off. Americans and Europeans are a very forgiving nation; look what has happened with Germany and Japan.
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You see, it is exactly what russians tried (I would say "desperately" tried) to do, at least from the end of 80es to the end of 90es. From Gorbachev to the last Eltsin. "Align with the west", that is, tear dow the Wall (ok, they did not PERSONALLY tear down it: "let the german tear down the wall without interfering", uff...), do not insist in Afghanistan (by the way, how ungrateful those "freedom fighters", ain't it? And just those the US helped more: Hekmatyar, the "ancestor" of Taliban, and then, yes, Bin Laden...sad story indeed...), etc., and then there was Eltsin, "Mr Yes Sir" Kozirev as foreign minister, the "shock therapy", the economic "reforms" under US counsellors' "advice", and more, and more...more "aligned" than so (and with less compensations than those which they had), you are dead...And Russia almost was, when Putin came...And thank God he came, and not another REAL Stalin...Enough with "alignment", thanks...
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Americans and Europeans are a very forgiving nation; look what has happened with Germany and Japan.
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Ah, yes, the "Marshal Plan", exactly what russian expected then, at least after the "fall of communism" (but to give it to Gorbachev would have been not such a bad Idea...He asked to the last minute, but from USA..."words, words, words"...)...Ask them if they saw something like that...

"I guess, the US military bases in this countries -- are friendly reminder, who their "closest friend" are. )))"

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

How right you are.
The American forces are stationed and prepared as nothing but occupation forces in Germany as well as the huge British contingent is nothing but an additional occupation force prepared to intervene instantly against the civilians in Germany just as they have been used to do in Northern Ireland.

In the same time the Red Army was withdrawing completely its troops from German soil.
What a difference:)
And the cold war was started by the USA and Britain and not the Soviet Union.
The Red Army even was withdrawing from Austria in 1954 and Germany was given the very same big chance but they were forced by the USA and Britain to refuse.
This is the true history and only 9 years after WW II Germany was forced to build up a new army.
Everybody today knows it was the wrongest decision Germany ever made after WW II.

Putin will end up doing much more harm than good in the long run. You point out that Russia was almost dead until Putin came along, Russia seems to talk more loudly and be more assertive when oil prices are high but when oil prices go down, you don't hear to much from them. The fact is most of the former Soviet countries are aligning with the rest of Europe. If Russia was a more Western friendly country they would have more people lining up to come there. Instead native russian speakers of Eastern Europe (and Russians) are lining up to come to Western Europe and North America. Russian people are very smart, so tell Putin to keep it up and America will benefit from more companies founded by Russian-Americans (Google).

Clue: Germany (west, of course) had received 11% of all the Marshall plan funds (easy to become "friends", that way), while Russia has had to pay THE FULL FOREIGN DEBT for all the USSR (including "free" UKraine, "free" Belarus -until Lukashenko came, at least-, "free" baltic states, etc.)...
Not the same thing, you see?

Two points about your comment: "..To create his "imperial dream of Eurasia" (not more "imperial" than EU, NAFTA, Mercosur, etc.) he does not count on "puppets"..
First, how did you ever get an idea that NAFTA or Mercosur are in any shape or form similar to Putin's Eurasia concept ? I cannot seriously imagine that you are so badly informed about regional trade pacts such as NAFTA, including how it came into being, how it has evolved over many decades, and how the rights and obligations of its member countries have been defined.
Second, your 'mutual interest' needs specifics otherwise it remains an empty rhetoric. It does, however, remind me and, I am sure, other readers, about the COMECON - that Soviet version of "mutual economic assistance" AKA Soviet central planning imposed on all former Soviet satellite countries of Eastern and Central Europe. The idea of 'mutual interest' sounds fine in theory but it has been implemented by means of sectoral bilateral trade agreements between any two or more countries that must respect WTO rules and obligations entered into by all WTO member countries. Since WTO now at last includes Russia, you should know that it took decades to get Russia to negotiate bilateral trade issues with each and every WTO member country. These mutual commitments, that do indeed reflect 'mutual interests', cannot be violated without setting a whole new chain of political decisions. Sure, Putin can put together some kind of a regional trade pact with Central Asian 'Stans' to pull them away from China, but that would be a far cry from the Eurasia concept that has been a dream of many Moscow nationalists.

You point out that Russia was almost dead until Putin came along,
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No. My point is that the west (the US, at least, for their own stupidity and post-cold-war "hubris" -or "booze", if you prefer-) has missed the "Russia aligned" train long time ago, and talking about it now is pure loss of time. Russia is tryin to "align" now with EU (cancellation of Visa regime, direct gas supplies bypassing the "former-warsaw-pact-"New-European"-states", etc.), play a clever game with China etc., and at least on the first front some success has come. Other eastern countries has joined NATO? And what have they gained from it, since Russia prefers cut them from gas until they pay what Russia wants instead of invade them (too rough, too bloody, too costly..)? Nothing at all. By the way, Ucraine is still NOT in the NATO, and has a big (and raw-material-rich) part which is very more pro-Russia that pro-Nato. Handle with care...

Sure, Putin can put together some kind of a regional trade pact with Central Asian 'Stans' to pull them away from China, but that would be a far cry from the Eurasia concept that has been a dream of many Moscow nationalists.
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Are you in the head of Putin to know so well what his "Eurasian concept" is? a regional trade pact with Central Asian 'Stans' to pull them away from China is quite enough, for starting. The rest..."A thousand miles' travel starts with a single pace" (and from WTO you can always get out...it's a matter of costs and benefits, and nothing more...but don' tell it to the US farmers, poor cats...)...

"Russia has had to pay THE FULL FOREIGN DEBT for all the USSR..." So much for more Russian propaganda. Russia has refused to negotiate with all former Soviet Republics the division of ALL USSR STATE ASSETS, including, but not limited to, the value of the Soviet state GOLD fund, the hard currency deposits in foreign banks, the value of ALL USSR properties abroad (including all embassies, consulates, staff residences, movable and immovable assets, etc.). Indeed, in many cases Russian spokespersons have refused even to release USSR state documents relative to the Soviet properties abroad. The so-called 'compromise' re foreign dept has never been ratified by legislatures of most former Soviet Republics.

"Are you in the head of Putin ..." Well, for all YOU know, maybe I have my listening devices installed in his office, washrooms, etc. ! :)
But anyway keep in mind that China has its own economic and political priorities that over a longer term do not match Putin's views. And China has some 1,350 million people compared to Russia's 135 million. After being exploited by Moscow for a long, long time the Asian Stans have no interest in becoming Russian colonies again.

Result: former republic held all the "soviet" infrastructure (nuclear powerhouses, hospital, etc.) without paying a dime, and felt free all the same to chase russian people from their territories (the "stans"), or treat them the "apartheid" way (passports for "not citizens" in the "civlilized" baltic states, even for people who had been born there...)...On the other hand, what did you espect from "democratic" Eltsin?

"Are you in the head of Putin ..." Well, for all YOU know, maybe I have my listening devices installed in his office, washrooms, etc. ! :)
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Those tricks with a former (?) KGB? Never steal in a thief's house...:)
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China has its own economic and political priorities that over a longer term do not match Putin's views. And China has some 1,350 million people compared to Russia's 135 million. After being exploited by Moscow for a long, long time the Asian Stans have no interest in becoming Russian colonies again-
Yes, China is powerful, even TOO MUCH powerful..."Nunquam facere cum potente societas" (Never make a deal with a too powerful mann)...Better to be "controlled" by Russia or to be "swallowed" by China?

You are confusing apples and oranges. "former republic held all the "soviet" infrastructure (nuclear powerhouses, hospital.." The assets I have listed (embassies, bank accounts, gold, etc) were assets paid for by ALL republics with Russia being only one of 16 co-owners of the massive assets, all located in foreign lands. Russian citizens had no more claim to such assets then any other citizens. By the way, there were NO RUSSIAN embassies or RUSSIAN banks anywhere in the world. All assets abroad were USSR assets. RUSSIA did not even have a single embassy anywhere, nor was RUSSIA a member of the UN or of any international organisation !
Surely none of the infrastructure on the whole USSR territory was excluively a RUSSIAN property, thus the BAM railways or the gas and oil pipelines were part of common USSR assets. Moreover, ALL the military assets were common assets of ALL ciitizens of the former USSR. The real issue in 1991-92 was what to do with the surplus of millions of former Soviet personnel that had to be housed, fed, etc. or discharged and sent home, but where to ? It was agreed apriori that whatever assets were on the territory of any one republic will be regarded as their republican assets. The exceptions included "movable" assets such as naval vessels and related supplies that were to be divided later (eventually Russian admirals cheated badly in re-allocating naval vessels and naval aviation and other facilities). Don't forget that even nuclear weapons stationed in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Belarus were regarded as their republican property, not Russia's property. It was only under a strong pressure from western powers, mainly US, the three new states agreed to sent warheads for dismantling, subject to their enriched uranium being reprocessed and returned as fuel for nuclear power stations.

when oil prices go down, you don't hear to much from them.
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Ah yes...US are waiting (since the Khodorkovsky case) the day when oil/gas prices go down...Well, maybe this is why it did not happen so much until now...As they say in Sicily, "cursed horse, shining hair"...
By the way, do not leave Netaniahu alone: if he attacks Iran, bye-bye fall of the prices...

Thanks for the information. There were no russian banks or russian embassies...Well, not even Ukrainian or Belorussian or what...However, it's not a secret that the process of "property sharing" between the former republics was "confused" to say the least, as all in that "democratic" period (even the "Belozhevsky pact" which put an end to USSR was very "informal": signed after maybe too much glasses and communicated to the president of USSR by telegraph, if I well remember). If there was some criterium in the sharing (proportion with the GDP of any republic, ore any else), maybe Russia should have gained something more, at least some compensation for a share of the value of the "assets" which remained to the other republics. But these are technicalities.

There were no russian banks or russian embassies...Well, not even Ukrainian or Belorussian or what...They wanted to part, then, either they did their own embassies, or they stayed under the same ceiling with russian diplomats (embassy-"kommunalka"...too bad...)

With their shrinking population and vast amounts of energy, they should be more concerned with their neighbor China and its 1.3 billion inhabitants.
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Apart from the fact that China has at least as much lead in the wings as Russia (too many males, too many elders, too many inner unbalances, etc.), can really US defend Russia from China? American are not so many, even if more than Russians (350 ml, if i well remember), and thy have their deals to follow all over the world. And besides that, "You can hardly argue with your banker", as mrs Clinton said...
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Complaining about the European Missile defense system makes no sense either. America and Europe have both stated its not to protect from Russia, but then Russia says it will attack it if its built? So you tell me what the West and America is to think then?
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You see, in foreign politcics it's a good rule not to base one's own choices only on the gentleman's word of another subject...America and Europe already "stated" that NATO would have not expanded itself to the boundaries of Russia, russians then believed their "statement", even without a written down agreement...And what's happened?
Trust is good, distrust is better...

At least in part you are factually wrong. Since the Ukrainian SSR and the Belarus SSR were both FOUNDING members of the United Nations, both had internationally recognised missions at the UN in NY, in the UN-structures in Geneva, Paris, Vienna etc. RUssian FSSR was NOT a UN member and had no representations anywhere. Russian FSSR had signed no treaties, the USSR did. As to 'komunalka' that was clearly a trap avoided at all costs by ALL newly independent states.

Since the Ukrainian SSR and the Belarus SSR were both FOUNDING members of the United Nations, both had internationally recognised missions at the UN in NY, in the UN-structures in Geneva, Paris, Vienna etc.
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And only there...
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As to 'komunalka' that was clearly a trap avoided at all costs by ALL newly independent states.
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And so they had to get their own embassies: the cost of freedom...You want it, you take it, you pay the price...

You wrote: "If there was some criterium in the sharing (proportion with the GDP of any republic, ore any else).."

Indeed, there was a criterium of sharing ALL assets outside respective territories of the republics. As I already said, Russian 'negotiators' refused to have impartial assessments done on the value of assets, including embassies, residences, facilities, etc. in ALL countries where the USSR had its representations and/or financial interests. What you called 'technicalities' was the fundamental legal issue of ownership titles. Once again Russian 'negotiators' have proven to be untrustworthy, manipulative and unwilling to abide by internationally recognised principles of ownership titles. Unilateral expropriation of assets in foreign jurisdictions, as implemented by Russian 'diplomats', warrants a judgement by the International Court of Justice.

Russian 'negotiators' refused to have impartial assessments done on the value of assets, including embassies, residences, facilities, etc. in ALL countries where the USSR had its representations and/or financial interests. What you called 'technicalities' was the fundamental legal issue of ownership titles. Once again Russian 'negotiators' have proven to be untrustworthy, manipulative and unwilling to abide by internationally recognised principles of ownership titles.
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Ownership titles? There was just ONE owner: the (late?) USSR. The point was just how to share the legacy of "de cuius", and this cases, without a will of the late, are always controersial (not casually in scothish language -dialects?- there's a word -"hotchpotch-",.that means "undivided legacy" and also "mess"...). There was no "ownership" for the single republics (let alons full ukrainian ownerships...)...

have impartial assessments done on the value of assets, including embassies, residences, facilities
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Even the more "impartial" assessment could not deny a simple fact: apart from the UN "embassies" of Ukraine in NY, Geneva, etc., in any other country there was just ONE, say, soviet embassy. Or you shared it (first floor, Russia, second floor...who wants?), or...

Unilateral expropriation of assets in foreign jurisdictions, as implemented by Russian 'diplomats', warrants a judgement by the International Court of Justice.
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And when the judgement has been ? And what it was? Or Ukraine has no skilled lawyers for international courts (only for blogs)?

That's not so. There were, in many major countries, more then ONE physical buildings in the capital city, more than ONE consulate-general, more than one trade reps office. Plus, of course, living quarters for many staff members, incl. ambassadors, consuls, etc. Assuming good will,individual assets should have been turned over to individual republican claimants who then would have the right to decide how they want to use them, or even trade them for different assets. You are making an elefant out of a mouse as assets evaluations and assets trading is a conventional process practiced whenever corporations are bought and sold. The bottom line is that a legal entity known as USSR ceased to exist and the title to any and all of its properties, movable and immovable, was NEVER granted to just one new entity theRussian Federation. What Russia has done is plain gangsterism.

You ask "And when the judgement has been ? And what it was?" Don't pretend not to understand that any court can issue judgements but one needs enforcement powers to make it stick. That is even more important in the case of judicial decisions against (or in favour of) sovereign states. A judicial action against Russia for properties located in foreign states would only have merit if both parties would apriori agree to respect the Court's authority. You cannot ask any country, say, the British or the French, to send in their police to force the Russians to vacate some buildings in London or in Paris that are part of what is recognised as a diplomatic territory. You cannot even have the British or French police arrest a Russian diplomat on charges of being a party to a fraudulent scheme to take over properties. Provisions of diplomatic immunity protect not just spies or crooks but any holders of diplomatic passports.

Let's see: in Rome, between consulate, official residence of the ambassador, and other diplomatic facilities, there are, can be, less than 10 (or even less than 5) building to share. The "free" new post soviet republic are 14 (plus Russia, of course). So, some republics, eventually, could get a "pied-à-terre" to turn up in embassy, consulate or what they will, and some do not. Same talk for all the major capital cities of the world (le minor ones, african, asian, oceanians -apart from Australia and New Zealand, maybe- are even worse dotated). So what? Who would get a free building, and who would have to take out the wallet? There is not only Ukraine, you see...

Putin can be a bad boy, but ain't not a fool. To create his "imperial dream of Eurasia" (not more "imperial" than EU, NAFTA, Mercosur, etc.) he does not count on "puppets" ("an obedient fool is worse than an enemy", russian proverb), but on the most durable human factor: the mutual interest...And this is why he can do (at your scorn and dismay...)...

This is plain old Populism, same thing Hugo Chavez have done in Venezuela to maintain himself in power.
Populism is not exclusive to Russia, is the natural result of universal suffrage in "Democracies".
Popular vote empower mostly the ignorant masses manipulator and demagogs.

Possibly russians are well disinformed, for one must wonder how Lenin and co. can be defended? Suffice to read communist dogma eg. the necessity to snach power by civil war and to be ready to kill 10% or more of the population in order to install the dictature in order to be convinced that you cannot do otherwise but agree to accept the murder! I have not seen lately any open supporter of that!
Russians must come to terms with their history: read "the black book of communism", historians such as Nolte! The Staline famine and the goulag-isation of the whole country are facts that still pervade the perception on Russia!

"Russians must come to terms with their history: read "the black book of communism", historians such as Nolte! The Staline famine and the goulag-isation of the whole country are facts that still pervade the perception on Russia!"

Indeed, I have "The Black book of communism", "The Harvest of Sorrow", "People and Empire" and a few others. Highly recommend to everybody including some of the brainwashed ignorants posting on TE blog.

Suffice to read communist dogma eg. the necessity to snach power by civil war and to be ready to kill 10% or more of the population in order to install the dictature in order to be convinced that you cannot do otherwise but agree to accept the murder! I have not seen lately any open supporter of that!

There is still people who seem ready to follow this dogma, just, they are not communist, and, theoretically, they do not want to install "dictature" but "democracy" (where? In Russia, of course). One of them is Berezovsky. Another one (an apologist of these positions, at least) was mentioned recently in another blog (twice arrested, who knows why, poor boy...).

Indeed, I have "The Black book of communism", "The Harvest of Sorrow", "People and Empire" and a few others. Highly recommend to everybody including some of the brainwashed ignorants posting on TE blog.
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Ehm, just to remind you some simple facts of life: now, in Russia, the communists are not in the government anymore. They are at the opposition, againts "bad boy" Putin (and the US ambassador received them too, quite recently. Maybe you have to suggest those book to him...)...

Thanks for your reminder, but (a) the Russian Communist party is not " opposition", for the most part they are partners of Putin's Eyedinaya Rossia !
This is one way how Putin manages to pretend about having a multiparty system in Russia. For the same reason he finds it convenient to have the clown Zhirik around in the Russian Duma.
And (b) you must have forgotten that Putin and most of his top level associates are the cream of the former KGB elite, most of his regional governors, etc. were trained in Komsomol, in party schools, and worked in communist party republican or regional institutions.

Not at all, you're welcome...
a: Communists sometimes vote like edros? Well, it appens in all the parliaments of the world (the democratic ones, I mean). It's called "bipartisan vote", y'know...
b: Putin and his boys were registered communists? Of course, as most of their past and present rivals. It always happens when a regime changes: many skilled people who grew up in the former one pass to the new one (if the change is not so traumatic -revolution-, MOST people do it). A trained ruling/managing class does not spring out overnight as mushrooms after a rain. Many of the military and officials of Napoleonic France served the king, at least until 1789, and then Robespierre, and then the directorium (as Napoleom himself did). So what?

There was "civil war" in Russia. There was a regime change from a true democracy to fascism, paid by the US and Germany through their agents Kerensky, Lenin and Trotsky, and followed by genocide of Russian people done by foreign troops (Latvian, Hungarian, Chinese, etc.) hired by Trotsky and Lenin and paid with the US and Germany's money, which took not 10% of the Russia's population but estimated $35,000,000 of Russian lives. I have not see any outrage about that from the west, not today not when it was happening.

The civil war was a necessity forthey thrive on it for the communits to take power!
The elimination of the population was clearly stated by communists and finally not at all a problem for those anti-christian, neo-pagan, materialistic, brutal berias!

Actually, today Russians are very well informed, as much of the previously hidden info is now not only available, but many books and films with this newly available historical facts are heavily circulated in the Russian language sphere. The problem is not in Russians - it is in westerners, who still use old history books filled with anti-Russia propaganda.

Just because somebody does not want to be told what to do by America, does not make him anti American. The Russians want to go their own way, in their own direction, yet according to the author: if youre not with us youre against us. Which is not true.

Those countries that dismiss America completly, and listen to nothing she says, are doing much better than those who suck up to America. Think China, Russia, Germany, all strongly going in their own direction and want as little to do with America as possible. They are becoming stronger and stronger every year. Those countries that suck up to America, for example the UK, are getting weaker and weaker every year.

A conclusion can be drawn, stay away from America, build your own independant country, and you will be fine.

If Russia just "wants to go its own way", why the strong Anti-American BS propaganda? I don't think Russia "wants to go its own way". Russia wants to prove that America is wrong. That's a different goal, with different choices.

Does China dismiss what America says? China -- who has imitated American capitalism in almost all points? Do you know how many students China sends to America -- to listen to what Americans have to say?

Does Germany want to have as little to do with America as possible? :-)

If only Russia would behave as Germany and China do to America!... But no: Russia has to prove that America is wrong. Or else Russia simply can't go to sleep at night. Too much bad karma.

Im not saying Russia is perfect. It has its problems just like everybody else. But it is a country that is becoming stronger and stronger every year. And this is happening because they are not willing to "suck it" if you know what i mean. They are dismissing everything the "superpower" USA has to say and because of this attitude they are building a strong country.

If only Russia would behave as Germany and China do to America!... But no: Russia has to prove that America is wrong. Or else Russia simply can't go to sleep at night. Too much bad karma.
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Russia goes quite its own way at least since 2002 or 3 (Khodorkovsky case, etc.), and this, it seems, does not allow many americans to sleep at night (I do not say ALL the americans: the most are normal persons...). As for "prove that America is wrong"" (better "say it when it takes"), well, it's a hard and dirty job, but someone has to do it...

"Im not saying Russia is perfect. It has its problems just like everybody else. But it is a country that is becoming stronger and stronger every year."
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Or not. Russia is a petro-state like Saudi Arabia. The economy is dependent on no-value-added raw material exports.
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"Russia has had difficulty attracting captial and has suffered large capital outflows in the past several years, leading to official programs to improve Russia's international rankings for its investment climate. Russia's long-term challenges also include a shrinking workforce, intractable large- and small-scale corruption, and underinvestment in infrastructure."
.http://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/rs.html
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"As of 2009, the average life expectancy in Russia was 62.77 years for males. The biggest factor contributing to the relatively low life expectancy for males is a high mortality rate among working-age males. Deaths mostly occur due to preventable causes (e.g., alcohol poisoning, smoking, traffic accidents, violent crime)."
.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia

It doesnt matter where the money is coming from, what matters is that the money is coming in. Think of a poor man that has lots of money coming in, its not where the money is coming from thats is making him richer and richer, its the fact that unlinke others the money is coming to him.

Russia probably has the largest resources of any contry in the world. They will be very rich no matter whether you like it or not. They are already the worlds 7th largest economy and are going up. If they get a good government, one which can reform the economy and unleash its potential, they can be one of the wealthiest countries in the world.

What dress is Putin wearing today ask Russian homosexuals?
Putin and same sex political partner Medvedev are restricted to a FSB Polka dance displaying Revisionist steps that are outdated as soviet God stalin. The same sex policy makers have a "Nova Ideology" with "Slavic rituals " and command encrypted signposts which Putin Russians can not decipher.
Even "Das Kapitalism" is confused but aroused by privatization potential?
Karl and Marx have arisen in protest!
Putin lives in Life's fog and insults "Babushka" Mother of Russia after all her sacrifices.
Oh! How True Russian children must suffer more and suffer more and more, even the abandoned waiting for another Stalin savior.
Yet, Iron Lady Angela Merkel wears her dress to perfection with a resilient policy stepping over
"alpine problems" to a Realpolitik Policy Dance.

It's always fun to hear from the largest prison country in the world - the US their incoherent whine about the human rights in Russia.

The US have 2.5 MILLION convicted criminals in jail and the US got 6 TIMES the World average incarceration rate. COMMUNST China comes distant second with 1.6 million prisoners, and China has four times the US population.

No wonder the barbaric US hypocrites tell the rest of the civilized humanity to "do what we say not what we do, heh, heh, heh :D

Today Russia celebrate the victory in the most important battle in the WW2 - the Stalingrad battle where the USSR singlehandedly break the spinal cord of the nazi Germany.

If the USSR did lost in Stalingrad the Hitler portrait would be hanging in every wall of the White House in Washington DC, and the official language of the UK cowards would be German.

Near 2 MILLION people perished during the battle at Stalingrad what is about ten times the total US losses in the WW2.

In USA you have 2.5 mil convicted criminals in Russia you have incarcerated innocents!
No one is denying the role of Russia in winning the Volgograd battle but, sory to tell you, it is not the number of victims that makes a victory noble!
In fact, dictators always boasted about their capacity to support enormous human losses! Mao said that some 20 million casualties were not a problem for his nation! Stalin starved his own population which is certainly more reprehensible that any war casualty!

Estimated FIVE million people perished from Kremlin ordered famine in 1932-33
This mass murder of civilian population in peacetime was supervised and implemented by Politbureau members Lazar Kaganovich and Vyacheslav Molotov. The same Molotov in 1939 negotiated and signed the Hitler-Stalin Pact that caused arrests and deportations to Russian gulags of at least one million people.

"In USA you have 2.5 mil convicted criminals in Russia you have incarcerated innocents!"

Oh how funny.
You just make the US- convicts to criminals and the prisoners in Russia to innocents:)
But you do not want to see the fact that the USA is a huge prison camp where people get imprisoned even for ridiculous delicts often for 10 and 20 years.

If even China has less convicts I would ask myself why this is in "free" America so:)

Calling prisoners as criminals was an old method we know from former Soviet Union.

I was refering to those innocents that I know: Pussy Riots!
Not all those ugly, inhuman ex-gulag prisons that we see can shelter innocents! Nor those convicts deserve such harsh treatments!
You must not consider the condemnation of guys like Madoff as ridiculous!

It is clear that actual Russia still has a long way ahead to real democracy.
And clearly I do not defend the Russian system of justice as less as I ever would defend Abu Ghraib or Guantanomo.
But we also had in Western countries shameful abuses of justice power if I only think of those innocent Irish who were condemned over many years just for nothing.
And Pussy Riots would probably have had to face a condemnation even in Germany because religions enjoy a very special protection.
(Of course not with labour camp)
Not long ago in Germany two young people were fined seriously for having sex in an almost empty church and the man- a young policeman- was about to lose his job.

Do you get paid by each post?
Stop insulting and stick to the facts. How can anybody take you seriously in all the posts you write if you cannot refrain from insulting others. Back your ideas with facts and not with slogans. Be intelligent and not a thug. Do not reinforce the stereotype some people have of Russians. You want people to like Russia, start with them liking you first by the way you present your ideas even if they are contrary to what others think.

Well, some weeks ago there was a demonstration in Moscow. Some thousand of people (13.000, I read) were marging AGAINST (I repeat: against) the Dima Yakovlev law. No incidents, no repression from the police, no arrests. What a totalitarian nation...

I Read "Repubblica", an italian major dayly paper, not pro-Putin at all. No mention of arrests, only photographs of transplants, people and what a legal demonstration usually seems to. How many arrests did you see (I do not want to know where)?

Over the past months, the Russian Duma has been on a campaign to dig up and cast out what it sees as the many traces of foreign involvement or meddling in Russian life (...) yet another would require cinemas to show Russian-made films at least 20% of the time; or be subject to fines up to 400,000 rubles ($13,3000).
How regrettable that Putin's Russia is quickly sliding back into the patterns characteristic of the Grand Dutchy of Muscovy of Ivan the Terrible and his successors.
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Well, then, Russia is not at all the one country who is quickly sliding etc....A law that requires cinemas to show a quota of national-made films (I don't remember if the quote is less or more than 20%, bit likely it's exactly the same) exist also in, say, France, and maybe in other "dictatorial" countries too...
It will take to seize the Bastille, one more time ? "Aux armes, citoyens..."...

I don't pretend to know what restrictions will be imposed in the coming few years by the Russian Duma or by Putin's decrees. But let's go back in time to recall that the French Enlightenment had many supporters in the autocratic Russia ruled then by Catherine the Great. When she died in 1796 leaving the throne to her narrow-minded son Paul I, he first demonstrated his resentment for his mother's reign by ordering the body of her lover Potenkin to be dug up and fed to the dogs. That was followed by reinforcing serfdom and re-introducing such forms of punishment as flogging, branding and tearing out nostrils of those found guilty. I am not suggesting, of course, that today's Duma would necessarily approve such judicial measures but the obvious paranoia by some members of the Russian Duma, like Zhirinovsky and his party faithful, causes both Russians and non-Russians look for alternatives in places like Zurich, Paris, London or TelAviv.

Which nation wants to be lectured by the west,let alone Russia?
The west has no right to coerce others to listen to their "lectures" that have certainly outlived their purposes or usefulness. Be lectured for a change. (vzc1943, mtd1943)

"The west has no right to coerce others to listen to their "lectures" that have certainly outlived their purposes or usefulness."

What a naive nonsense. "To coerce" means to impose by force. Are democratic values or cultural traditions being imposed on someone ? Isn't today's Russia anxious to see German technology or French fasions or even American marketing adopted in their homeland ? Aren't the young generations of Russians, Chinese, Indians etc., not to mention young Poles, Czechs, Ukrainians, Greeks, Turks, etc. etc. making their pro-western choices well known by the thousands ? So, what exactly has "outlived its usefulness" ? The right to freely decide on who will be given the right to govern ? Or is it your example of naive political blindness that will forever remain useless ?

“Aren't the young generations of Russians, Chinese, Indians etc., not to mention young Poles, Czechs, Ukrainians, Greeks, Turks, etc. etc. making their pro-western choices well known by the thousands ?”

.........................
Do you mean emulating of killing 6 year old school children? Drop this nonsense you sound quite ridiculous.

How true, your attempt at drawing an equation mark between a crime committed by one mentally sick individual and the sum total of the moral values, technical skills and social achievements of the western civilization, - that indeed is more than ridiculous.

Do you need to be reminded how many school children died from bullets and artilery shells fired by the Russian OMON forces in the past 15 years or so ever since Kremlin has launched indiscriminate campaigns to eradicate all resistance by the Chechens, Dagestanis, Ingushetians and others ?

Germany occupied half of Europe, was brutally defeated, admitted its wrongs, and has listened carefully to American "lectures" on how to frame a Constitution. It then became one of the world's top 3 economies.
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Russia occupied half of Europe, was softly defeated, and instead of listening to people with 2 centuries of refined experience in political science (and the British, with even more experience in Law), proceeds to yell insults and pretend some kind of moral stand. How's that working out for you?

Petrovna, you are quite naive. Since when Russia occupied half of Europe...it was Soviets communist/Stalinist that enslaved even Russian people for long 70 years. And imagine that those very evil communists are now supported in opposition by the US just to defeat uncompromising Putin.

“...(US) people with 2 centuries of refined experience in political science” set apparently example for Germany. Now you sound not only naive but even ridiculous. Do you realise that in American democracy Blacks were subject to lynching and had to sit at the back of busses as recently as 60s and Sammy Davis Jr could not attend Kennedy’s inauguration just because he was black. “Al men are created equal” on paper it sounds very noble. Germany received 11% share of Marshal plan, whoopee – educate yourself.

The RSFSR was the dominant force in the USSR. Since we say that Germany occupied Europe and Napoleon's France occupied Europe, we can say 'Russia' as well. It was the same people, and apologies or reparations for the enslavement and killings in Eastern Europe were scant.
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The creation of the American political system was such a profound and revolutionary event that mere possession of a copy of the Constitution was punishable in e.g. Spain. It was based on these things that the rest of the world started to understand, much later, what is meant by rights and capitalism. The American system made it inevitable that injustices such as racism would be eventually eliminated, not by the arbitrary act of a despot, who could just as easily revoke the rights, but by the nature of capitalism. It's not in anyone's financial interest to be racist - if they refuse to hire certain qualified people or have them as clients, their business will suffer.

You obviously pretend to have never read or heard how the city of Grozny in Chechnia has been practically eradicated by the Russian forces in Putin's wars against the Chechens. Far from being the only case, over the past decade or so reports of Russian murders and brutality against civilians have become standard. Just spend some time googling Chechnia and Dagestan and you will get such reports by the dozens. Given time and space constrain I will quote today only a couple of rather recent examples:
Example 1): "About 30 persons, most of them natives of the republics on Northern Caucasus, went on a hunger strike in penal colony No 7 of Mordovia. The participants of the hunger strike demand to observe the convicts’ rights and stop beating they undergo in the penal colony, a relative of one of the convicts reported.
The hunger strike started on November, 20, one of the participants’ relatives told the correspondent .... there are several natives of the countries of Asia among the participants of the hunger strike.
..... on November, 20, two natives of North Ossetia opened their veins as a sign of protest against beating by the convoy. “They are: Roin Tibilov born in 1988 and Igor Gobulov born in 1984. After that they were not even moved to hospital, just their wounds were dressed”....
..... the convicts are regularly intimidated and promised that riot squad would be called and all of them would be beaten up. “They say: we are not afraid of anything, call human rights activists or whoever you wish......http://dagestan.eng.kavkaz-uzel.ru/articles/22967/

Example 2) "Khabidzha Kaplanova said that she came from Novye Atagi .... she lost her son 11 years ago.
" My son was taken away; and since then my heart does not cease to hurt. Isa was summoned to Khankala for questioning by employees of the federal troops Viktor Tikhonov and Morozov – I don't remember his name. Since then, I know nothing about the fate of my boy,"
She added only this month she three times addressed President Vladimir Putin asking to help to find the whereabouts of her son – Isa Kaplanov.
"My son, Isa Chichaevich, born in 1965, disappeared in 2001. Since then, I can't receive any data about his fate from anybody.
Another... resident of the Zavodskoy District of Grozny, lost her only son – Surguev, Suleiman Vakhaevich, born in 1982, on February 2, 2000.
"Together with my son, three other guys disappeared: Mirza Elmurzaev, Akhmed Susaev and Adam Suleimanov... All of them were taken from the basement of School No. 50 of the Zavodskoy District. Their fate is still unknown," the woman told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.http://www.eng.kavkaz-uzel.ru/articles/21190/

"...it was Soviets communist/Stalinist that enslaved even Russian people for long 70 years."

Who are you, a fiction writer ? A Martian who hasn't been on this planet till recently ? Here are three simple questions:

1) How many Russians were members of the Soviet Politbureau in 70years ?
2) List all the Russians who were Secretary-Generals of the Communist Party and all the Russians who were Chairmen of the GPU-NKVD-KGB-FSB in 70 years ?
3) List all the Russians who were Chairmen of the REPUBLICAN communist parties in each of the 16 Soviet Republics and who reported directly to their boss in the Kremlin ?
I shall look forward to you providing the answers.

Your 'innocent' but brutal OMON have done a lot of damage and killed a lot of civilians, including women, children and babies, in their idiotic attempt to take Grozny. Rest assured that Russian "heroic" OMON troops have used all sorts of weapons, from machine guns and grenades to artilery and cluster bombs. Here is just one small part of the Wikki summary on the casualties of these battles:

"Chechen casualties are estimated at up to 100,000 dead or more, of which most were civilians.[46] Various estimates put the number of Chechens dead or missing between 50,000 and 100,000.[47] Russian Interior Minister Anatoly Kulikov claimed that fewer than 20,000 civilians were killed. Sergey Kovalyov's team could offer their conservative, documented estimate of more than 50,000 civilian deaths. Aleksander Lebed asserted that 80,000 to 100,000 had been killed and 240,000 had been injured. The number given by the ChRI authorities was about 100,000 killed.[47] According to Russian newspaper Gazeta, approximately 35,000 ethnic Russian civilians were killed by Russian forces operating in Chechnya, most of them during the bombardment of Grozny.[48]"

Example 1) oops, I see no schoolchildren here. Or you're see no difference between schools and jails?

> "They are: Roin Tibilov born in 1988 and Igor Gobulov born in 1984."

Looks like they are 25 and 28 years old -- a bit old to be schoolkids, aren't them?

> Another... resident of the Zavodskoy District of Grozny, lost her only son – Surguev, Suleiman Vakhaevich, born in 1982, on February 2, 2000.
"Together with my son, three other guys disappeared: Mirza Elmurzaev, Akhmed Susaev and Adam Suleimanov... All of them were taken from the basement of School No. 50 of the Zavodskoy District. Their fate is still unknown," the woman told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Usually, when somebody disappear in Chechnya -- this is done by local islamist thugs. Kidnapping and slave-trading is a traditional Chechen mafia business.

"You obviously pretend to have never read or heard how the city of Grozny in Chechnia has been practically eradicated by the Russian forces in Putin's wars against the Chechens."

Do you need to be reminded how many school children died from bullets and artilery shells fired by the Russian OMON forces in the past 15 years or so ever since Kremlin has launched indiscriminate campaigns to eradicate all resistance by the Chechens, Dagestanis, Ingushetians and others ?
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Do you know what is a WAR (civil or not)?
"War is hell" (Tecumseh Sheridan, american general during american civil war -1861/65-. And he meant it -and did it...-).

The American system made it inevitable that injustices such as racism would be eventually eliminated, not by the arbitrary act of a despot, who could just as easily revoke the rights, but by the nature of capitalism. It's not in anyone's financial interest to be racist - if they refuse to hire certain qualified people or have them as clients, their business will suffer.
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Wow! and to understand this easy truth USA needed a 4 years' civil war (whose first battle alone -Bull Run- was more bloody for them than the whole Vietnam war -60.000 american killed-) to eradicate slavery, and almost 200 years to cancel that bit of "apartheid" that was the rule in the southern states...And now they have such a haste with the democratic development of Russia? Suspect...

Don't falsify the story ! It said: "resident of the Zavodskoy District of Grozny, lost her only son – Surguev, Suleiman Vakhaevich, born in 1982, on February 2, 2000."
If you can count at all, this poor guy was only 18, obviously of school age.

"Together with my son, three other guys disappeared: Mirza Elmurzaev, Akhmed Susaev and Adam Suleimanov... All of them were taken from the basement of School No. 50 of the Zavodskoy District. Their fate is still unknown,"
I suppose you need to go back to school where they teach to read. Don't you understand the words "basement of School" ?
When hundreds of youngsters, and hundreds of young women disappeared in Chechnia this is TRADITIONALLY Russian OMON business.
And furthermore, you have neglegted to show 'uploads' of what Grozny and other towns in Chechnia and Dagestan looked like after Putin's first and second Caucasian wars. Its like showing photos of Berlin today while claiming the city looked like that in May 1945 ! Another case of the Russian Potemkin Village concept. How ridiculous can you get ?

Russia occupied half of Europe, was softly defeated, and instead of listening to people with 2 centuries of refined experience in political science (and the British, with even more experience in Law), proceeds to yell insults and pretend some kind of moral stand. How's that working out for you?
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Yes, it was softly defeated (included the funding of the ancestors of the talibans in Afghanistan BEFORE the russian invasion of 1979 -see interview to Brzezinsky in 1999-, the help to the creation of Al Quaeda, and now...you reap what you have sown...), and then they acted like they have OCCUPIED Russia (Dmitr Symes said that, not me). Big mistake...
Regarding the "listening to people with 2 centuries of refined experience in political science": who do you think has created the actual constitution (the same that was in power during the years of Yelsin, from after the "democratic" bombing of the Parliament on)? No, it was not Zhuganov...

"The official death toll of the three-day siege stood at 335, plus 30 attackers. The emergencies ministry said 156 of the dead were children. Eleven special forces soldiers were killed, and some were buried yesterday in Moscow.

North Ossetia's deputy health minister, Taimuraz Revazov, said that 332 people remained in hospital yesterday, including 23 who had been sent to Moscow and 11 in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don. At the morgue in Vladikavkaz, 110 bodies remained unidentified."

Rest assured that I know at least 100 times more about wars than you do.
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Strange...You insist that OMON have heavy artillery and cluster bombs...This is army and even aviation stuff: the russian have surely used artillery and aviation in Chechnya (they had them, they used them: it was a war, after all, and they DID NOT start the second one, at least...), but
why mention the OMON? Even when used in military operations, they are light infantry, with rocket launchers and recoilles gus and APC (maybe tanks) at the best. More precision, please...
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Real 20th cent. wars, not some American domestic conflicts.
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"Some american domestic conflicts"...A good understatement at all...The american civil war one of the first "modern" wars (machine guns, railways, telegraphs, etc.), and the most bloody war in all american history (more bloody -for american military and civilian casualties- than all the "foreign wars" put together, from mexican war ro the "export of democracy" in Irak and Afghanistan -passing by the world war I and II, of course-)...
And however, the sheridan principle "war is helkl" is always valid: when is war, is war...

BESLAN School massacre - an interactive report on how over 330 children and teachers were massacred by the Russian OMON in the 'republic' of North Ossetia in Sept. 2004
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Funny: everytime somebody speaks of Beslan, it seems that RUSSIAN has seized the school building the 1st day of the school year, and, God knows why, has massacred 330 people...
Things went quite differently: the school was seized by chechen fighters (quite a military target, ain't it?), and the 1000 or about people inside (almost all children) was trapped with few or no food or water, surrounded by explosives and treated not exactly following the Geneva convention (and they were NOT russian combating soldier, of course). When things seemed to start degenerating, russian special troops intervened, and in the following firefight, as always happens in these cases, many civilian hostages were cauht in the crossfire (the optimum is "only" 25% ocasualties, but in an english operation in Africa, some years later, ALL the civilian hostages were caught, and killed -no to mention the recent "operation" in Algeria-). Who was the guilty of all the mess? Putin, of course...The attackers? There were attackers? Well, it was the case of do what they wanted (like in Budyonnovsk in the first chechen war, ain't it?). THere were already civilian casualties before the attack? Well, sorry, but they were russians, russians occupy Chechnia, so (they were north ossetians, but they were on russian side, so...)...
Double standard, ain't it?

you have neglegted to show 'uploads' of what Grozny and other towns in Chechnia and Dagestan looked like after Putin's first and second Caucasian wars. Its like showing photos of Berlin today while claiming the city looked like that in May 1945 ! Another case of the Russian Potemkin Village concept. How ridiculous can you get ?
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First chechen war was not Putin's: was Eltsin's (but then there was "mr yes sir" Kozirev at the foreign affairs, so, everything was all right, ain't it?)...

Yes, the US invades (directly and through its paid agents) foreign nations and kills millions in the name of democracy every year. And I suppose this is not an imposition in your opinion. Educate yourself a little, here is a start: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EewGMBOB4Gg&feature=plcp

This article is nothing else but another shallow and anonymous slander of Russia by this magazine, perhaps perpetrated by “unbiased” Mr. Ostrovsky from Moscow. The issue is not foreign relation but Russia’s domestic policies showing lack of adulation for America.

America a country heroically fighting communist ideology...but was it really communist ideology or hate of everything Russian including envy of resource abundance. America a country longing for adulation and those that refuse to comply will suffer like 3 million perished civilian in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq or Afghanistan and other places (all this during the post WWII peaceful period). Russians are mere pussycats in comparison. This “plague” this anti-Americanism must be eradicated.

"...how sincerely much of the Russian political class is fed up with what it sees as hypocrisy and condescension from the (omitted here)..."

Double standards in international relations, claiming the orthodox of Christianity while breaking the Ten commandments, claiming justice while starting with and spreading injustice, buying and promoting guns themselves and persuading others not to, etc. etc.

It's not just the Russians who felt this way. Arabian world, Africans, South Americans,etc. you name it..

Are you considering Russia to have existed only since 1991 but America since 1783?! How convenient; it must be because listing the countries Soviet Russia attacked makes one run out of space. Not to mention the wars forced by communist expansion in Korea and Vietnam, and the attempted destruction of Israel.
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And plenty of countries have resource abundance. Australia and Canada, for example.

Indeed USA rightly considered the tzarist regime as an corrupted and illiberal one!
I'm not sure that "hate of russians", whatever that means, is pushing americans to adopt, to marry or to make business with russians!

From my perspective, it's Russia who's looking for adulation. Russia never misses a chance to attack others (especially America) in international forums, and will fish for compliments whenever it can. Russia wants the CIS (ex-USRR) countries' adulation and submission.

America was traditionally an isolationist country; look what it took to convince them to enter WWII. Russia? Expansionist. Always more land, always more countries, always more domination. And still Russia seems perplexed that the people it conquered don't like it. Go figure...

From my perspective, it's Russia who's looking for adulation. Russia never misses a chance to attack others (especially America) in international forums, and will fish for compliments whenever it can. Russia wants the CIS (ex-USRR) countries' adulation and submission.

America was traditionally an isolationist country; look what it took to convince them to enter WWII. Russia? Expansionist. Always more land, always more countries, always more domination. And still Russia seems perplexed that the people it conquered don't like it. Go figure...

Well, if you want blond kids to adopt, you surely do not look for it in Africa or Asia or latin America (or not even in USA, likely: they are planty of orphan there too but...nobody wants them, it seems...who knows why...)...
Same thing if you look for a blond women that is less hard to handle than the ordinary american counterparts, and till this point it makes sense (once upon a time there was a site: "nomarry.com". Very teaching on this matter...), or a blond mail-order-bride downright, a white geisha or something like that...And this is going a bit too far (even because russian women are not SO less hard to handle, indeed...they are worth the game, but you must know how to play...)...
Regarding the business, hm...why germans, italians, french and even norwegians have so many firms in Russia or working with Russia, with no major problems, and US have few firms (I'm not sure US are in the first 10 trade partners of Russia) and many problems (Magnistky etc.)? Are you sure only Putin is guilty?

US an “isolationist or not expansionist”...and what was 3 million civilian killing spree in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan and other places by the US military if not to subjugate others who think differently than the warmonger.

Russia wanted to "conquer", quite often even for the purpose of not to be conquered (the poor Poland once was an imperial(istic) power not less than Russia was later, and in XVIIth century polish burned Moscow down...). USA wanted (want) to "control". By the military force, by alliances, by golpes (latin America, XXth century and before), by the financial power (Washington consensus) etc.. In both cases, they do what all the nations (which could afford it) did before (England, France, Spain, Portugal, etc.), and probably will do in the future. There are no angels and devils here. The news are, Russia begins to play with other rules: no more pure force, but energy (South stream, Blue stream, North stream) or even mutual interests (Eurasian union). And against these moves, NATO is powerless ("What can we do if they DO NOT attack?")...

What are you talking about, Dasha, - USSR helped to create Israel!
Nobody forced the West to attack ether Korea or Vietnam - Western geopolitical urge was the "force".
USSR attacked nobody except for Afghanistan. Your imaginary long list is all in your head.

Favouring the church will not impress many people for long. It is too old hat and unexciting. Eventually, like France after Napoleon, the Russians will start to take pride in the Bolshevik Revolution and the heritage of Lenin. It is only a matter of time. Nations take pride in what makes them great in the world and it is Lenin who made Russia great in the eyes of the world, not the Russian Orthodox Church - itself based on a Jewish idea anyhow.

Nations' standard response to problems at home is to divert attention from them by inventing or creating external threats. Between plummeting population and plummeting world market energy prices, Russia is a basket case. Unfortunately, the worse things get at home, the more reckless it's government is likely to become. The world should ignore sabre-rattling, and act decisively if it is unsheathed.

To cope with the plummeting population problem, mainly among the Russians, not among the Asian minorities, Russian Duma (parliament) is apparently considering new laws to attract emigration from the former Soviet republics. The idea is to simplify the acquisition of Russian citizenship for people born in the former USSR. Moscow does not hide the fact that this plan aims at helping to solve its demographic problem by inviting emigration from the now independent neighbors, given that most potential candidates are fluent in Russian.
Such immigrants would be expected to melt readily into the Russian majority in contrast to the in-flow of Chinese, Pakistanis and others. That sounds like a reasonable but highly questionable theory since the great majority of people prefers settling in Western Europe, not in the Russian Siberia.

Precise usage of English is always appreciated, but you made no error; just were not specific enough. Those who think about immigrating to Russia, will emigrate from their old countries: those former Soviet republics.

It's not about being "specific" as you suggest. Better read my statement again:
"new laws to attract immigration from the former Soviet republics"
We are talking about IMMIGRATION TO RUSSIA FROM somewhere....

I agree with your general comments,
it is just that I am not sure what 'plummeting world merket energy prices' links to ?
there are arguements of downward pressure on Gazprom gas prices (or maybe delinking from oil prices), though I am not sure that there will be much material impact, more of concern would be lost sales (Ukraine and N European shale gas maybe sometime)
and as for oil price, 2012 average oil price is the highest ever (in money of the day) - Brent $111.65 (up 49c on 2011)

" ...restoration of conservative values" from pro-Putin's United Russia party means a go-back to the communist propaganda time.
This is a significant move, the first to signal the return of totalitarianism as the first step towards dictatorship.
The rest will follow quickly and then, one day, the Russians will wake-up prisoners in their own country, condemned to obedience or the gulag.

How regrettable that Putin's Russia is quickly sliding back into the patterns characteristic of the Grand Dutchy of Muscovy of Ivan the Terrible and his successors.

Let's recall that it was in 1547 when Ivan IV ( known as the Terrible), dissatisfied with a title of the Grand Duke of Moscow, crowned himself the first Tsar of Russia. Ivan's nickname defined his ruthless campaigns against landowners, - he was known for executing or exiling those who dared to oppose him. It is well known that Ivan's 20th cent. successor, known simply as 'comrade' Stalin, liked to copy Ivan's execution methods (but did not care about monarchy !). Ivan actually started out as a reformer, proclaimed a new legal code and curbed the influence of the clergy. Well, Joseph Stalin did the same, economic and social reforms and persecution of the clergy were highlights of Stain's reign.
While in 1552 Ivan the Terrible crushed the Tatars of Kazan and began Russia’s expansion into Siberia, annexing a large Muslim population, his successor Joseph Stalin (another 'Terrible') crushed Hitler's armies in 1942-44 and annexed most of the Eastern and Central Europe.

Moscow’s famous landmark, St. Basil’s Cathedral on Red Square was built on Tsar Ivan's orders. The other famous landmark, Lenin's tomb on the same square, was built on Stalin's orders. Legend has it that Ivan liked the cathedral so much he had the architects blinded to make sure they would never build anything like it elsewhere. As to how many people were blinded on Stalin's orders remains a mystery.

Modern Russia likes the symbiosis of bolshevik cleptocracy state-owned enterprise (reds) + ortodox "novovery" (whites) + lumpenizided population (blue) that still long time will demonstrating to world how do not live.

I think that to understand what is happening in Russia today you have to understand the history of Russia over the last 1000 years. Russia has always fluctuated between a belief that Russia has a unique mission in the world to be a beacon of purity and holiness. With this is an associated autocracy, xenophobia and excessive nationalism. This oscillates with ideas of the enlightenment and modernisation. This is usually associated with a loosening of the autocratic hold over the population. After the chaos of the 20th century and the Yeltsin years, Russia is returning to what is in effect its default position. Currenty, the USA also believes it has a special role in the world as did Great Britain in the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. What is happening in Russia not a political conspiracy, but just one of its periodical oscillations.

1000 years?? glorious propaganda! why 1000?? human live there for about 20 000 years!
russia as a state has been established in 1547, by ivan iv :)
italy exist 150 years, for instance, but we can trace high culture there thousands years back - were etruscans italian?
do we have to understand punic wars to judge berlusconi??

You said: "..you have to understand the history of Russia over the last 1000 years."

Its obvious that you don't ! You and many others don't understand that there was no RUSSIA 1000 years ago ! The city-states ruled by some self-proclaimed 'princes' of Ryazan, Susdal,Yaroslav, Pskov, Belgorod, Novgorod, etc. had no concept of a unified state, let alone of the concept of being a Russian. If you ever have a chance to visit Novgorod take a look at their Kremlin located next to the St. Sophia cathedral where citizens were regularly summoned to discuss the affairs of the city. There was no Russia then, no Moscow, not even a concept of a Muscovy as a "Russian" homeland. It was 'Prince' Ivan Kalita ("Moneybags") who, having spent most of his reign under Mongol domination (1325-1340), ordered the construction of the old cathedrals now dominating Moscow's landscape. The Mongol yoke lasted for 240 years (1240 - 1480), a long period in the history of any peoples, during which the subjugated tribal enclaves were ruled by puppet rulers selected and dismissed by their Mongol overlords. History's records are full of details of how these local 'princes' were summoned to prostrate themselves before the Khan who demanded that mocking rituals be followed to the letter. The legacy of the Mongol period remains to this date in Russia's durable autocracy.
And then there were rulers who attemped and succeeded in unifying some lands into a Grand Dutchy of Muscovy, leading to what is known as 'The times of Troubles' because of competing claims on the Kremlin as a seat of power. It was that period, and much, much more, that shaped the peoples into what is today known as Russia.

"The legacy of the Mongol period remains to this date in Russia's durable autocracy."

I've never much cared for this "Mongol yoke" talk: it seems too much like an excuse for Russian autocracy. I don't know why Mongol rule is supposed to have been so much worse for the development of political institutions in Russia than in, say, Turkey, Iran or India (or Ukraine). And Mongolia itself is a significantly healthier democracy than Russia. The Kazakhs argued during the Bolshevik revolution that they already had democracy and communal living, and so didn't need Bolshevism, but that got beaten out of them and their country has taken on many habits of its big neighbor.

Also, to clear up a point: there was no "Rossiya" a thousand years ago, but there was a "Rus' " which obviously is different. Muscovy was laying claim to the latter by taking on the former name.

You are right that the rulers of Muscovy were laying claims to the RUS history. Of course Russia, starting from the days of Ivan the Terrible all the way to Putin the Great, continues in the same imperial mindset. It is most regrettable that most western universities continue teaching the same old falsehood about "Russia's 1000 year old history" helping to perpetuate Russian imperial appetites. The concept of Russia as 'the Third Rome' will remain alive as long as many history books used in the West market the same stale and discredited propaganda line.

Russia exist as a state, say, from less than 500 years. Germany and Italy exist as a state since less than 200 years, USA since less than 250 years...So what?
By the way, what happened in Kiev from 1240 to 1480? Something different from what was happening in Russia? Something more righteous? Kiev was conquered by tatars (and even destroyed, if I well remember), or not?

'The times of Troubles' did not come from the struggle to unify "some lands" into the granduchy of Muscovy. They came when Ivan the Terrible (already first Czar of all the Russias -and no more Granduke of Muscovy-) died (and then his only living heirs were killed by boyars). Then come troubled times, the false Dmitries, the attempt (of the polish) to conquer (and "catholicize" -bad move...-) Russia...And not even then it worked...